


In The Time That It Takes To Get There

by newsbians



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, and i tried to be Funny in this but it didn;t work, anyways SOULMATE AU!!!!!! SOULMATE AU, y'all remember me?? lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23952196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newsbians/pseuds/newsbians
Summary: Soulmates were for people in love! He was decidedly not in love.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly
Comments: 9
Kudos: 99





	In The Time That It Takes To Get There

He lie shock-still in his bed, not willing the energy to get up or open his eyes or do absolutely anything that wasn’t drenched the sweet, sweet relief of ignoring your problems. Maybe if he stayed there for long enough, it would just go away. Like his body would get the message and the ink would just slip away, back into his bloodstream, and he would never have to look at those two horribly familiar words again. 

_ Jack Kelly.  _

Of course he  _ loved _ his best friend- everyone loved Jack. There wasn’t a living, breathing body that didn’t fall instantly for his charms (except Mr. Pulitzer, and they at the very least amused one another) and David Jacobs was no exception. They had been seven years old, Jack pulled a crying Davey out of the sandbox, and swore to get his revenge on the boy who had pushed him down. The rest was history, nights spent giggling into the darkness, summers bathed in sunlight, the hard and the good times alike. There was no doubt in his mind that David loved Jack, because that’s what best friends did.

But they couldn't be  _ soulmates _ . 

Soulmates were for people who fell in love! He had long since accepted his fate as one of those people who just never had a tattoo at all, no name adorning their collarbone or wrapped daintily around their wrist. David didn’t fall in love with people, he liked them, he laughed with them, but he never loved them. People were strangers, no matter how close they got, and he would never love them the way his parents did, he would never want to look at someone the way Sarah gazed at Katherine when she entered the room. Love wasn’t his thing. 

Except, apparently, it totally was. It was, and it was true with his best friend-  _ Jesus Christ, with his best friend! _ What was he supposed to do, march on up to Jack and pull his shirt up, bearing Jack’s name in his messy handwriting to the world and all its witnesses? No. No, he couldn’t do that, because he wasn’t _ in love  _ with Jack, he just  _ loved _ Jack. And most importantly, Jack was not in love with him. 

This was the last thought swimming through his evil, traitor mind when his family burst in through the door. “Happy birthday!” 

&&&

The energy was palpable in the air. Jack stood directly in front of him while the other crowded closely behind, shoving to be the first ones to see the tattoo. He would be the first, by three and a half weeks until Spot turned eighteen, to receive his very own tattoo. Sure, everyone had one, but this is the first time one of their very own would have a soulmate. Jack hoped she was funny. Davey was tightly wound like, all of the time, and eventually he wouldn’t be there to ease his tension. Maybe he should write all this down, maybe it would be helpful for her to hav- 

No. That could be dealt with at a later time. Right now there was a much important task at hand: torture the information out of Davey if he had to. 

“You guys, I’m telling you. I don’t know who it is.” Davey sighed, desperately trying to push his way past the group of teenagers practically clamoring on top of him. “Not even my parents know. They probably don’t live around here.” 

“Yea, but what if we know!” Sniper said, elbowing Specs for pulling her braid. “We all do different stuff, you don’t know all the girls on the swim team, Romeo might know ‘er from drama-” The school bell pierced through the air and Jack watched as Davey sighed in relief. Reluctantly, they all began to walk away, shouting threats over their shoulders and kicking at the dust until it was just the two of them. Davey still looked pained, but a different type of pain, one that didn’t allow for him to meet Jack’s eye. 

“I really gotta go, Jack.” 

“Is that all? You gotta go?” 

Davey poked him in the side, a quick, painless jab that reminded him of being twelve and so unsure of everything, and jogged into the science building. He had to go. 

&&&

Maybe this didn’t have to change anything. Maybe it was meant to say “Here’s the name of a person you love! It’s good enough! He’ll have a different name and you’ll stay his best friend and everything will go back to normal.” Yes, that had to be it. 

Hey Google: Does anyone ever get platonic soulmate marks? 

He couldn’t type that out here. Honestly, he wasn’t even supposed to be here- ditched third period and going to the library instead was not the model student behavior he was used to, but Race was in third period. Race, with his prying questions and unabashed abilities to get secrets out of him, just so he could run off and tell Spot. And then Spot would tell Medda because of course he would, and Medda would invite Davey over for tea and pointedly look over her beautiful teacup and ask him if he was ever going to make a move on her son. And then Jack would be hiding on the staircase because Spot told him he should, finding out the whole big secret, because  _ that was just David’s luck.  _

Maybe he should tattoo over it. One big black line directly over Jack’s name so no one will ever see. Or maybe a field of flowers, or an infinity symbol, or an anchor, or some other cliche that eighteen year olds do so everyone can chalk it up to some joke instead of a very serious issue. 

Except David was kind of afraid of needles. 

&&&

They sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the old wooden staircase, just out of sight from the party downstairs. Spot, his very own brother, was finally turning eighteen, so Medda was having a big party with practically everyone downstairs. It had been fun for a while but the loud music and constantly having to say hello to another person he didn’t recognize had gotten under Jack’s skin, so he dragged Davey upstairs. After losing three rounds of Egyptian Rat Slap, Jack suggested hiding on the stairs to see if they could discover any ‘juicy gossip.’ 

The quest bore no fruit, so now they lay on the ugly carpet roller in compatible silence. “Secret for a secret.” Jack whispered in Davey’s ear. 

“Secret for a secret,” the other boy agreed. It was an old game they played, not really a game at all, but it kept them honest and the old adage true- you couldn’t trust either one of them to keep a secret if you didn’t want the other to know. 

“After cutting the cake, Medda’s gonna give Spot the adoption papers.” Davey sat up in a startling move, almost pushing Jack out of their carefully planned hiding spot. 

“Seriously? She’s adopting him?” 

“Serious as the day you die. She got them approved like seven days ago.” 

“Wow. That- That’s great! I’m really happy for you guys.” The silence settled around them, the sounds of the party muffled by the closed in walls. “Okay, secret.”

The music below went _ thump, thump, thump.  _

“My soulmate isn’t a girl.” 

Jack’s heart went  _ thump, thump, thump _ . 

&&&

D: Happy birthday I'm leaving right now 

_ Sent. 7:13am.  _

D: Jack?

_ Sent. 7:16am.  _

D: Dude

_ Sent. 7:22am.  _

D: Okay well I’m eating your cookies

D: Also I think we need to talk

_ Sent. 7:24am.  _

  
  


&&&

His heart was racing. Racing! There were too many variables in this situation, too many what-ifs, and it wasn’t like he could control them. This was the tradition ever since he could remember. David would show up at Jack’s house to drive him to school (because the bastard didn’t have his license) and on his birthday, he would be accompanied by his mom’s infamous chocolate-chip, sea salt, caramel, and nougat cookies. This year he had a dinky paper hat, a balloon (courtesy of Sarah), and a drawing of Jack fighting off a swarm of sharks (courtesy of Les). Oh, and about a gallon of nervous sweat, courtesy of yours truly. 

“All byyyy myyysellllffff…” the radio crooned.  _ Next _ . 

“I’m all out of love! I’m so lost without you!”  _ Next _ . 

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away…” 

“Are you kidding me?!” David yelped, shutting off the radio once and for all. 

He could feel the walls of his four-door minivan closing in on him as he turned onto Jack’s street. The single balloon bobbed to the pounding of his heart. 

&&&

He couldn’t stop gaping at himself in the mirror. The waist of his pajama pants were pulled down just a bit to reveal the skin on his right hip, the one now marked with Davey’s name in his careful, closely cropped handwriting. Spot had already come and gone, chuckling to himself and saying something about a bet he had with Race, and Medda took one look at the hip and had gone downstairs. “Esther, hi! What exactly has your son told you about his mark?” 

The newer girl, a small kid with scabs on her knees and a gapped tooth, had peeked into his room too. “C’mere Smalls,” he had said, remembering what it was like to be curious and new. She poked the tattoo with wide eyes. 

“That’s the boy who always is here?” She had questioned. 

“Yep. He’s always here.” Jack sighed, returning his stare to his mirrored reflection. 

Somewhere on his bed, his phone buzzed. It buzzed again. Jack couldn’t take his eyes off of Davey’s name. 

&&&

7:48 am. If they didn’t leave now, then they would be late to school. David took a deep, harrowing breath, one he felt go straight to his soul, and raise his hand to knock on the door when it flung open, knocking him backwards in surprise. 

His backpack softened most of the fall, but the true pain came from Jack practically jumping on top of him. “IDIOT!” He yelled, pinning David to the ground. They hadn’t done this for years, and since then he had grown an inch or seven. It was almost funny to see Jack spread out like a starfish, if he wasn’t pinning. Him. To. The. Ground. “IT WAS ME THE WHOLE TIME??” Jack roared again. He definitely hadn’t brushed his teeth. 

“Okay you’re yelling, can you calm down, it’s not that big of a deal-” 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I’ve been in love with you for eleven whole years-”

“Eleven years?-”

“Shut up, I get to talk, it’s my birthda-”

“I’m older-”

“I’m stronge-”

“Well I love you. So I win.” 

“I’m in love with you. We both win.” 

Davey looked up at Jack (who was still on top of him). 

Okay, soulmate marks were for people who are in love. And Davey Jacobs was definitely in love. 

&&&

Sarah: Are you kidding me jack is ur soulmate I KNEW it why didn’t u tell me ur such a dumbass were talking about this when u get home

_ Sent. 2:56pm.  _

Ma: Hey buddy, can we talk when you get home? 

_ Sent. 11:05am.  _

Spot: IDIOT

_ Sent. 10:35am.  _

Race: You just got me thirty bucks bro, thanks also congrats on that whole thing

_ Sent. 10:36am.  _

Medda: Let’s have tea sometime, yes? 

_ Sent. 9:31am.  _

**Author's Note:**

> as anon reqested, here is some lighthearted javid in these trying times. i hope everyone and their families are safe and healthy, stay home!!!!!  
> literally just wrote and posted this. no beta, no proofread.


End file.
